Writings of a strange arts student

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I don’t know how it is for other families, but mine never seemed to try to convince me about the Easter Bunny.

I believed in Santa Clause, yes, but the parents seemed to try with that one, and succeeded, but trying to convince me that the Easter bunny was real…

The baskets with chocolate happened, appearing in the living room in the morning, but I remember finding the stash of chocolate to go into those baskets before.

Easter was a belief that walked hand in hand with the Tooth Fairy.

I would, when I lost a tooth, go up to Mom or Dad and present them with the tooth so that they could make sure that the money would happen.

If it was from them giving it to a fairy, I didn’t much care, but I wanted the money so I could either put it in my piggy bank or so I could buy pixie sticks or something.

I’m fairly certain that when hiding the plastic eggs that they had filled with chocolate, it was more for the game or it.

It wasn’t like having a number of gifts labeled “From Santa”, no, it was more like a way to earn the chocolate that would be split between me and my sisters, and then rationed throughout the next month to last.

It was a chance for Mom and Dad to sit back and have us search in ‘turns’ for an egg, yet another holiday that meant we were barred from the living room, it was a holiday that was sort of like Halloween except that you got the day off school and you didn’t have to walk for candy.

It was magical, for sure, and it still is now even when it’s going on about whose ‘turn’ it is to be the Easter Bunny in the house.

That meant that you were the one who went to Bulk Barn for the loot.

Quite possibly it was the overused picture of the cartoonized bunny hiding eggs in a field that made belief impossible. Our eggs were hidden in our living room. I never found eggs outside.

But, my rambling about a holiday with a magical being in it that we weren’t forced/cajoled into believing in aside, I want to know if anyone else had this?

Did anyone else joke like you’re actually 20 years older than your 7 year old self about the Easter Bunny having come?

Do you (if you’re a parent) try your best to feed this belief that a rabbit deposits chocolate for you once a year?

Just me being curious.

Oh, and Happy Easter 😀

P.S. Lexy, I think we have bunny ears from an old Halloween costume somewhere...

So, I’ve been having some troubles with my studies lately, and as much as I was thinking about talking with my family about it, I decided that it’s my life and I should spend it the way I want to.

This was actually inspired by one of my friends, who has decided that she wanted to do some travelling after school, since she had to stay and take an extra semester at high school for various reasons, and wants to get ‘out there’ before going to university.

I think I’m going to go with her.

She as some interesting plans, and is already looking to get a hippie van (you know the ones, the kind we all remember from Scooby-Doo?) and Since it isn’t really safe to go travelling on your own, I figure that she’ll welcome the company.

Also, probably, the money.

If she’s fine with waiting to go anywhere out of Canada until after my summer job, I will have a good amount to go for a year or so, and as I said above, I’m having some troubles in classes so this is a great idea!

It really is. It’ll be a break from classes, I’ll get so many new experiences, I’ll be ale to keep in touch, and I’ll be with a friend.

I know my parents might think it’s a bit of a bad idea, but I’m of legal age for a great deal of things (not alcohol in America, no), and that includes the right to make decisions about my life.

It’s not like there’s much out there to worry about, anyway, especially since I’ll be with my friend! I already did some travelling (for school, a trip to London and Paris), and I already had the talks about what not to do, and how to keep from getting hooked into tourist traps, and all that, so everything will be great.

Really. It will be so awesome!

It’s great that the family is coming up to Ottawa for the Easter weekend (next weekend), and I’m planning on telling them what’s going to be happening next year then. It helps that I’ll be talking to the registrar before they get here, so my plans will be well on their way! My friend has been sending me links to Volkswagon vans being sold, and I’ve already agreed to pay for half of it.

I’m sure my sister Lexy will be surprised when she reads this, but I understand that she will understand that I’m posting this on my blog with the confidence that she will see that this is a good idea, and that she will support my decision.

Since I’m posting this today, I would also like to say a BIG Happy Birthday to two of my favourite Harry Potter Characters, Fred and George Weasley, who were born today (April 1st). In my mind neither of you will ever die.

Lexy may have first claim over him, because, you know, she bought him, she pays for his food, she goes on most walks with him (MORNING walks, even when it’s crap out)… all that stuff matters not.

Because he is also MY dog.

I miss him.

Of course I miss my family too, but there is something about the family animal that sort of sticks with you.

I want to crouch down and have him sit down between my knees for a cuddle.

Or, possibly, walk up to me and turn around in his ever so classy “Here is my bum” with implied “Scratch it” pose.

I want to see him do an all around stretch, starting with downward facing dog and moving on to cobra before finishing with a funny face and a shake. If this shake produces little fluffs of fur in the air, that is fine.

Hugs from my family are awesome, but giving a hug to my dog is an overall fluffier experience.

Recently, as broadcasted by my sister HERE, it was my birthday 😀

Very exciting, yes, and one of my friends gave me a particular gift.

She gave me a stuffed dog…

This looks nothing like my dog, so that’s not the point of this, but I have been very stressed lately, and it is the kind of stuffed animal that has been stuffed to fair solidness, and so it is a wonderful stress-hug-thing to hug, because it doesn’t feel like hugging a towel.

I do like squishy stuffed animals, by the way, but when you need a hug and you need it to feel solid…

Well.

I just really miss having Gwynn around.

Currently the only thing that’s living with me (roommates don’t count, it’s more like they’re living next to me) is my aloe plant, something I begged off of family because I needed SOMETHING around.

It’s grown some since I got it.

I think I should name it as well...

But because I’m happy that I’m able to get some stress off by squeezing the air from the stuffing of my dog (currently nameless, but a boy for his manly image), I’m going to post some pictures.

Manly pattern means manly dog... And his eyes and nose are so soft!

If you have a name suggestion for my dear, manly pooch, I’d love to hear it!

I love my new poochie, but I still Miss Gwynn

Thank you!

P.S. Lexy, please send me family and dog pictures. I see you in a week or so, but I would like them regardless.

I know that they are both cute…. but I don’t remember changing anything.

At all.

And to change the settings, you must press and hold the screen on my smartphone, choose live wallpapers, scroll down to the app and choose it, and then hit settings (on screen), and then scroll to the picture that you want.

It’s something that you would remember, correct?

And I don’t.

Now, I occasionally have sleeping problems.

And I don’t ONLY mean that I have trouble sleeping.

I talk in my sleep.

I walk in my sleep.

Occasionally I do other odd things in my sleep.

While I don’t remember doing such things myself, I have had a number of conversations with Lexy about how I shouted/conversed in my sleep.

She has told me of one night when I shouted out something about giving me my cup back.

Last time I was home, she and I and the rest of the family had a laugh about the fact that she woke up to me talking about something, and when she tried to tell me that she was sleeping, and couldn’t this wait until the morning? I snapped back “SHUT UP!” before falling silent myself.

One summer when Lexy was working in a park, whether this was her Ranger year or the following year I don’t remember, but the family went up to visit and stay in the park/neighboring park, and the place we were at was more of a lodge than a campsite, with a building with one larger bed and one bunk bed.

Emma and I had the bunk bed, and I managed to gain the top. The parents got the large bed.

This is important to the story. This isn’t just me lording to the internet blogging community that so and so many years ago, I won the top bunk from my sister.

But Mom told me one morning that I had slept walked… and then slept smacked her to wakefulness.

I had (according to her) crawled down the ladder, blankets trailing after me, walked across the little room to the large bed, and started patting down (read: smacking) that side of teh bed–the side she was on–muttering to myself that Emma had said that it was there, why would she say it was there, but she said it was there.

She told me to go back to bed when she realized what had happened, and I climbed back into the bunk and went back to non-walkin-or-talking sleep.

At rangers (ranger camp for 17 year olds, check it out), it was theorized that I was sleep walking, as I always had dirt in my bed no matter how careful I was of brushing all dirt from myself, and pretty much proven when one of the girls who slept in the room right by one of the doors saw me standing by the door, just ‘looking’ out the window.

It was later proven again when my roommate herself was bugged by me getting up, turning on the light, sitting on my bed for a bit, and then going to the bathroom and back before turning off the light and going back to bed. All without responding to her.

Always fun, but part of me thinks that perhaps I was just tired. Awake, aware, grumpy, but tired.

So I know that I have weird sleeping habits/patterns/whatever you want to call them, I’m just wondering if now I have gained some sort of sleeping technological understanding, and a wish for white fluffy kittens.

I don’t know.

I don’t even know why I’m really posting this, other than to show just how baffled I am at this… would you call it a turn of events? My last two posts were about disruptions in sleep…

I guess this is also to share with Lexy that weird sleeping habits are not restricted to Toronto or the woods… And now I’ve apparently (possibly?) upgraded to understanding how my phone works even in sleep.

A bit after my birthday last year I found out that my birthday is the day after one of the Wiccan (or pagan if you prefer) holidays. Like, directly after.

On February 2nd Imbolc comes around right before the also celebrated February 3rd that is my Birthday 😀

From what I can gather from the occasionally broken fount of knowledge that is Google, Imbolc is a holiday that celebrates Brigid the Light giver.

The idea is that in February, though things are still cold (in the UK and US/Canada areas at least), but that usually around February you can see signs of life, you can feel a bit of warmth in the breeze…

So Imbolc (pronounced Im-bol-ik for the most part) Or Saint Brigid’s day celebrates Brigid the Light Bringer as the bringer of spring. It is also a hearth and home celebration, in many cases a celebration that they had made it through another winter and is usually celebrated with hearth fires (turn up your heating system maybe?), special foods (*le gasp* We are not used to such an idea!)

Imbolc is traditionally a time of weather indication, and the old tradition of watching to see if serpents or badgers came from their winter dens is perhaps a precursor to the North American Groundhog Day.

A myth for the holiday is that Imbolc is the day the Cailleach — the hag of Gaelic tradition — gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. Legend has it that if she intends to make the winter last a good while longer, she will make sure the weather on Imbolc is bright and sunny, so she can gather plenty of firewood. Therefore, people are generally relieved if Imbolc is a day of foul weather, as it means the Cailleach is asleep and winter is almost over. This, I find, is quite a bit more reassuring than the redundant Groundhog winter-indicator… x number of weeks until winter ends vs x number of weeks before spring begins hmm? Really? Great. Thanks for that.

Mr. Groundhog, what's it like being the annual weatherman? Not great? Work one day a year? Yeah, thanks.

One folk tradition that continues in both Christian and Pagan homes on St. Brigid’s Day (or Imbolc) is that of the Brigid’s Bed. The girls and young, unmarried, women of the household or village create a corn dolly to represent Brigid, called the Brideog (“little Brigid” or “young Brigid”), adorning it with ribbons and baubles like shells or stones. They make a bed for the Brideog to lie in. On St. Brigid’s Eve (January 31), the girls and young women gather together in one house to stay up all night with the Brideog, and are later visited by all the young men of the community who must ask permission to enter the home, and then treat them and the corn dolly with respect.

Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. Before going to bed, each member of the household may leave a piece of clothing or strip of cloth outside for Brigid to bless. The head of the household will smother the fire and rake the ashes smooth. In the morning, they look for some kind of mark on the ashes, a sign that Brigid has passed that way in the night or morning. The clothes or strips of cloth are brought inside, and believed to now have powers of healing and protection.

This seems to me a bit like an uncluttered Christmas… It’s just that you’re getting your clothes or whatever else you leave out blessed, and made a bit more special if you celebrate the holiday.

Copied from Wikipedia (XD Wiccapedia hahaa… I’m so funny :P), here are the festivals that are practiced.

Celtic Reconstructionist

Like other Reconstructionist traditions, Celtic Reconstructionists place emphasis on historical accuracy and cultural preservation. They base their Imbolc celebrations on traditional lore and customs derived from the historically documented medieval Irish texts, attempting to employ research into the older beliefs of the polytheistic Celts. They usually celebrate the festival when the first stirrings of spring are felt, or on the full moon that falls closest to this time. Many use traditional songs and rites from sources such as The Silver Bough and The Carmina Gadelica. It is especially a time of honoring the Goddess Brigid, and many of her dedicants choose this time of year for rituals to her.

Wicca

Main article: Wheel of the Year

Wiccans celebrate a variation of Imbolc as one of four “fire festivals”, which make up half of the eight holidays (or “sabbats”), of the wheel of the year. Imbolc is defined as a cross-quarter day, midway between the winter solstice (Yule) and the spring equinox (Ostara). The precise astrological midpoint in the Northern hemisphere is when the sun reaches fifteen degrees of Aquarius. In the Southern hemisphere, if celebrated as the beginning of local Spring, the date is the midpoint of Leo. Sometimes the festival is referred to as “Brigid”. Among Dianic Wiccans, Imbolc (also referred to as “Candlemas”) is the traditional time for initiations.

In Wicca, Imbolc is commonly associated with the goddess Brigid, and hence the Wiccan Goddess, and as such it is sometimes viewed as a “women’s festival” with specific rites only for female members of a coven.

Saint Brigid's Cross

Imbolc is usually celebrated on February 2nd in the Northern Hemisphere or the 1st of August in the Southern Hemisphere. I have also heard it being celebrated on the 1st of February, but more sources claim it on the 2nd.

So there’s a burst of Pagan information for you 😀 Just thought it’s be fun to share that with you… It;s also interesting to me that I should be hoping that the day before my birthday is a horrible day out, so that the hag won’t go out to collect wood 😛

Figured I’d post this a couple of days before my Birthday, and a couple of days before this holiday so that if you want to even think on this holiday/celebration/bit of awesomness, you would be able to have the option. I think it’s interesting, but as much as I’m nnot liking my roommates, I’m not going to put ashes around to see if Brigid visited.